In this paper we use 2001-2002 urban survey data we collected to analyze demographics, cultural factors, and purchasing behaviors influencing the consumption of fresh milk, yogurt, ice cream, and powered milk in urban areas of China. The data include frequency of consumption by product, location of consumption and purchase, exposure to advertising and foreign culture, and school milk programs. ...

In this paper, we use a semi-parametric two-stage model to examine the effect of bankspecific, industry-specific and macroeconomic determinants of bank efficiency. This method, proposed by Simar and Wilson (2007), relaxes several deficiencies of previous two-stage analyses, which regress non-parametric estimates of bank efficiency on exogenous determinants. In particular, we propose a bootstrap...

This paper presents the design of TOBIT, an infrastructure to support Web-based simulations. TOBIT provides a subnet grid, which is partitioned into web server tier, database server tier and simulation server tier. This grid is self-managed through the simulation manager (SimMan) extended from the Oracle Grid Control [3]. TOBIT is currently being used to support autonomic computing of two web-b...

In this article we consider the estimation of two seemingly unrelated Tobit regressions in which the dependent variables are truncated normal. The model is useful, since it can be viewed as the reduced form of a simultaneous-equations Tobit model. The proposed estimation method and algorithm are interesting in themselves for the following reasons. In the estimation of a simultaneous equations m...

The inability of households to save over time has significant influence on the rate of capital accumulation and economic growth in developing countries. In order to understand this trend, this research assesses savings rates and its correlates in rural Kwara state, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to obtain data from 120 households. This was then analyzed using two descriptive ...

Non-compliance with fishing regulations by Iranian fishermen in three provinces of Khuzestan, Bushehr, and Hormozgan along the Persian Gulf was investigated. Using a questionnaire and a stratified random sample method, a total of 566 fishermen were interviewed. The legitimacy variables (outcome and process) that can explain the observed noncompliance with zoning regulations for the shrimp fishe...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance of Turkish (TR) commercial banking sector. We evaluate the technical efficiency of individual TR banks using the nonparametric frontier methodology, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). To investigate the determinants of efficiency, we use the Tobit model. This analysis aims to explain the variation in calculated efficiencies to a set ...

Using a new dataset for 41 German non-governmental organizations (NGOs), we analyze the allocation of NGO aid across recipient countries in a Tobit regression framework. By identifying for each NGO the degree of public refinancing, we address the largely unresolved issue of whether financial dependence on the government impairs the targeting of NGO aid. It turns out that German NGOs are more ac...